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Keito wished he could live without his feelings. They got in the way of things, created inconveniences, made him overthink situations and kept him up at night. Worst of all, he let himself go and fell in love with another person, Kuro Kiryu. He didn’t want to change what kind of relationship he had with him, he appreciated seeing him almost every day and messaging him in the evening just how they were now. He didn’t want to go up to him and say “I happen to like you.” because that’s way too straightforward, but mostly because he didn’t want things to become awkward between him and Kuro. But, he couldn’t deny how warm he felt inside when thinking about him, how thoughts of that person started to occupy his entire day. How his heart notably sped up when he talked about him or when he caught his eye or brushed his hand against any part of him. First, it started at how he had to look away when he had changed clothes. Sure, this was normal, Kuro had a very attractive build and all and this didn’t mean he had a crush, is what he would say… But, of course, his feelings soon evolved into him not being able even to look at Kuro for too long before starting to feel himself burning up on the spot, often needing to tear away his gaze and unbutton his collar immediately after.
It’s not long before Eichi’s whisper soon breaks the silence in the room, and he’s reminded of the fact that most of all, he hated how obvious his crush was to his classmate.
“Keito, you’re staring off into space with a lovestruck expression on your face, you know? You’re quite bad at hiding the fact you have a crush on a certain someone.” Eichi, who sat nearby him, suddenly spoke up, Keito grimaces inwardly, the stupid blonde dates one annoying cancer cell and suddenly he’s an expert at romance, huh?!
“I don’t have any feelings of the sort for anyone. Either way, we’re supposed to be reading at the moment.” He says this, trying to ignore the fact that he was just completely off task before Eichi had spoken up. Along with that, however, he could already feel heat rise to his cheeks over his affections for Kuro being brought up.
“Keito, it’s hard to ignore the fact that you have a crush when you spend about... five, or maybe ten, staring at an image of him saved on your phone with that same look on your face. Come on...~ Admit it.” Eichi clearly didn’t care about Keito’s apparent embarrassment (he was never good at hiding it), prying even further into this stupid issue.
First off, he noticed that?! “Please, it’s nothing like that, he’s just...” Keito fumbled for an excuse, but… please, give him a break already. “I don’t have any romantic feelings for him.” He crosses his legs and looks away from Eichi, making an attempt to ignore him and focus on class.
“Fufu.. you’re practically fitting the tsundere archetype right now, aren’t you...?” Wait, Kuro had called him one of those before, hold on…
“Please don’t tell me you’ve said anything to him regarding me.” For the love of Keito’s pride, if Eichi had told him anything implying that he.. He’d have a stern lecture to plan out later.
“Relax~ I only told him that you talked about him with this proud expression on your face. Or did I...?” He wanted to die.
“My feelings for him will go away. You don’t have to bring him into this.” He’s certain of this. Even though he’s had this for about a month now. Shut up.
“Oh, sure. Kiryu there looked a little too relieved to had been told that. If you like the man, go get him... It’s easy. You can clearly see how obedient he can get when it comes to you.” Eichi eyes the classroom next door. “Would you like me to do it for y-“
“You’ve done enough, thanks. I’ll work this out myself.” Keito’s face is red hot, and he avoids Eichi completely by staring out the window.
----
After class, he had simply avoided the issue of his feelings plaguing his mind by focusing on student council work, taking Tori’s workload to extend this way of distracting himself. It’s not long before he takes a look at his watch and it’s 20:00, the sun had already long set and the school was practically a ghost town. He silently reprimands himself for accidentally losing that much track of the time, shoving his stuff into his bag and hoisting it onto his shoulders. But almost immediately after a small knock can be heard on the door, and whoever it happens to make his way in anyways despite receiving no answer from Keito.
“Boss? You’re still here?” Kuro’s voice greets him and suddenly a wave of heat crashes itself into Keito, and he has to quickly stop himself from practically short-circuiting right there in front of his crush.
“I-I could say the same for you, you know. What are you here so late for…?” Keito cringes at how he stutters his words, swallowing thickly to avoid his embarrassment.
“Well, probably the same reason as you. See, I was sewin’ our outfits for our next live and I completely managed to zone out… next thing I knew it had gotten this late. Figured I’d check if you were still around, so here I am.”
Kuro being considerate of him gets his heart racing, and he hopes it’s dark enough to the point where he can’t notice the most likely very prominent blush on his cheeks. “Well, you’re in luck then, I suppose. I was just about to head out myself, but…” His first mistake is looking up at Kuro, and suddenly his gaze is locked on his perfect lips and loses track of whatever he’s saying. It’s taking him every muscle in his body to not reach up and trace his thumb along them.
“Danna…? Why’re ya starin’ at me like that, do ya... want a kiss?” Kuro’s chuckling, but that only makes Keito feel more like he’s about to burn alive on the spot.
“W-Wh- No, nothing like that… It’s just- You’re-“ He can’t even make up an excuse.
“Oh, yeah. Your friend, Tenshouin, did say somethin-“
“Listen, Kiryu- I like you, okay?!” He blurts out an awkward as all hell confession, his heart racing a mile a second as Kuro takes in the information he just flusteredly flung at him.
Kuro is silent for over thirty seconds and the thoughts race through his head-shit, he screwed this up, didn't he? All the manga he read with confession scenes never ended up as awkward as this did, did they?! His head hurts when he tries to think of reasons for why there's no way Kuro could’ve like him back after all he had done to him in their second year, wanting to go back somehow and just punch his past self as hard as he could for shamelessly throwing away the opportunity of ever getting to date Kuro.
Keito feels anxiety pierce through him like a katana when Kuro finally opens his mouth. What if he says no? “...You know, I’d never even thought ya would like me back…”
“Like… Like you back?” Crippling realization soon fills him as he thinks back to Eichi’s comments from class earlier that day. He called Kuro compliant and obedient whenever it came to Keito’s commands, didn’t he…?
“Hasumi, I’ve been droppin’ hints for the good majority of this year, but even an honor student like you can be pretty dull when it comes to feelings, huh?” Kuro’s hand runs through his hair, looking down at Keito all the while. “Actually, I liked ya way back into our second year… Only stuck with ya because I accidentally let myself fall in love with your dumbass self… Jeez, that’s embarrassin’ to admit.”
“Y-You actually- You’ve liked me-“ He’s gone through a complete havoc of emotions these past three minutes, the feeling of giddy butterflies soon filling his stomach. “There’s… there's no way you do, right? Kiryu, you don’t have to say this just to make me happy.”
“Knew ya’d be like this. Then, if my own words aren’t enough to prove it, then lemme…” It’s only a small moment before Kuro’s hands force him against the wall behind him, effectively pinning him there. Is it physically possible for someone to combust on the spot? Because this is exactly what he feels like he’s about to do.
“Kiryu- I’m going to die…” He quickly hides his face with his hands to avoid all eye-contact with the other man, like if he did he’d melt into a puddle on the spot. He often imagined this very scene on his own, and the fact that it was actually real right now is just so…
“Please don’t, boss. Ya still haven’t gone on a date with me, first of all. Hey, can I kiss ya?” Kuro’s voice is captivating, and Keito’s knees feel beyond weak.
This was all happening so quickly he’s not even sure his brain has managed to comprehend anything of what has just happened, but he’d be damned if he turned down a kiss from a guy he swears he’s fantasized about since the first time he saw him. “...G-Go ahead.”
And when Kuro’s lips meet with his, Keito soon realizes the real thing is far better than anything he could’ve fantasized about.